Posting Pauze

On this day, one year ago, we boarded a plane for our first-ever visit to Europe. In many ways it seems like yesterday and in many ways . . . not.

We are taking a break from our Flemish classes and I'm officially taking a break from blogging. At least for a few weeks anyway. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of our company and have lots of shopping and cleaning and planning to do.

I may even go across the street to the wassalon and try out the mangle drain on my sheets. And I'm still in search of a turkey baster. Apparently no turkeys need basting here.

We want to show them as much of Belgium as possible. There are some really beautiful cities right here within an hour of our house. We also want to show them what it's like to live in Hasselt. Which is a pretty nice city too! We'll also venture to some neighboring countries. Hopefully not wear them out too much.

So, my camera battery is charging, wish me luck on the baster, and . . .

smile for me.

Tot ziens.

You ungrateful little . . .

Immigration.

It's what makes the U.S. what it is. After all, if it weren't for immigrants, who would be in the U.S.?

Don't answer that.

Unfortunately some Americans didn't make that trip across the pond willingly.

It's hard for me to know who is and isn't native Dutch. There's nothing obvious about anyone that I can see. Plus, people have moved around the world for generations now, so just because your parents may have come from China, if you were born in Belgium and have lived your entire life in Belgium, you're native Belgian.

Of course, that can be said of the U.S. as well.

Despite the inevitable continuation of immigration now and forever, there is never a simple way to resolve all the issues surrounding it. People just want a better life. To be with their family.

The U.S. isn't alone in their struggle either.

According to the United Nations refugee agency, the number of people seeking asylum in the West remained stable last year (the "West" isn't just the U.S.). Some 377,200 people applied for asylum in 2009. Only 100 more than the previous year.

"The notion that there is a flood of asylum seekers into richer countries is a myth" says U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. (or Refugites as we like to say at Trinity. But that's a whole 'nuther story)

This annual report (the U.N. one noted above) covers 44 industrialized countries including 27 EU member states, Australia, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Turkey, and the U.S. I guess this defines "West".

Furthermore, the EU registered the bulk with around 250,000 last year.

It may not surprise you that Afghans topped the list of applicants for asylum to industrialized countries. Actually up 45 percent from the previous year.

Almost a third of asylum seekers to the U.S. are from Chinese applicants.

In addition to Afghans, the majority of applicants to the EU were Russians, Somalis, Iraqis, and Kosovoans. In that order.

I think we know why living in these countries may be less than desirable. So, where to go?

For the EU, the highest number of asylum seekers were registered in France (47,600), followed by Germany (31,800), the UK (30,300), Sweden (24,200), Belgium (21,600), Italy (17,500), the Netherlands (16,100), Greece (15,900) and Austria (15,800).

Now, think about it. Let's put some perspective on this. Belgium is a very small country. Very small, yet 21,600 people sought asylum here. France is 22 times bigger than Belgium. Twenty-two Belgiums would fit inside France! Yet France only had a little over 2x the number of people seeking asylum there. By comparison per square mile, France should have had 475,000 asylum seekers to Belgium's 21,600! There weren't that many all together.

I'm just saying, that's a lot of people coming to Belgium.

I'll admit if I were seeking asylum, Belgium is nice. Apparently too nice.

In the EU in 2009, 229,500 first instance decisions were made on asylum applications. There were 166,900 rejections (73 percent of decisions), and the rest were granted refugee status, subsidiary protection or were granted authorization to stay for humanitarian reasons.

I assume this means no one was sent back if they applied legally for asylum. However, estimates are that there are about 4.5 to 8 million illegal immigrants in the EU.

They must all be in France.

According to an article in the NYTimes, in the last three years, immigration judges in the U.S. heard 9,317 requests for asylum and granted only 183. That's 98% rejection. Estimates are that there are 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S.

If over 377,000 sought asylum somewhere in the West, I can only imagine why so many are illegal. If the U.S. immigration judges heard only 9,000+ requests over three years?

Yes, the U.S. has its share of issues. Belgium has its share of issues too. But I'll take that any day.

I am lucky I don't have to figure all this out.

I am lucky I'm not an asylum seeker.

And you might want to . . .

Count your blessings.

Lightning Bugs

I never realized what a difference a few hours of daylight can make. Never once did I even think about this until we moved here.

Oh, I remember as a kid loving the long summer days when we could play outside until dark and catch lightning bugs.

Fireflies for some of you. And naturally, we kept them in an empty mayonnaise jar. Poked holes in the top with an ice pick and put a leaf or two to simulate their natural habitat.

I was here in late August last year and never saw a lightning bug so I'm not sure if Belgium has them, but I do know we have very long days. Only to get even longer.

The shortest day here in Hasselt is in December with only 8 hours of daylight. The days seemed so short and I slept way too much.

That's 16 hours of darkness.

Sunrise 8:30 a.m.

Sunset 4:30 p.m.

In the afternoon!

By contrast the longest day is at the end of June with over 16 hours of daylight. That means it's really not even dark for a full 8 hours sleep.

Sunrise 5:30 a.m.

Sunset 10:00 p .m.

And it won't really be dark until around 11:00 p.m. It seems like the days go on forever.

In Ruston, for example, the longest day has about 14 hours of daylight. That is a long day, but still 2 hours less than we have here.

Sunrise 6:30 a.m.

Sunset 8:30 p.m.

The shortest day has about 10 hours of daylight.

Sunrise 7:30 a.m.

Sunset 5:30 p.m.

That seems normal to me.

The extremes are hard to get used to and I can't even imagine living any farther north. Like Alaska. With 19 hours of darkness in the winter and only 6 hours of darkness in the summer. I don't know how they do it.

And I'm pretty sure they don't have lightning bugs.

You can't have it both ways

I occasionally read the headlines. In English. About the U.S.

I don't read the headlines. In Dutch. About Belgium. But I do wonder sometimes if they are similar.

We all know that once we've made up our minds about something or someone, it's nearly impossible to change it. As the current Thomas Jefferson quote on my blog implies . . . we all think we're open-minded.

But we really aren't.

It's true. Even when the facts don't support our opinion, we may actually think the facts are wrong!

Facts. You know, those things that are proven as true.

I think the uninformed will believe almost anything.

That's me.

Well, not quite.

I may be uninformed about almost everything, but I definitely won't believe almost anything.

I'm fascinated with the media. And sickened by it at the same time. It amazes me how narrow-minded some people are. And by "some", I include myself on occasion. I've never said I'm not opinionated.

Naturally, it's impossible to read the headlines without reading something political.

Like I was just reading an article on gun control. It seems the NRA has interpreted Obama's policy on gun control beyond recognition. It's pretty amazing really. And I don't even have an interest in gun control. I barely know what NRA stands for, but . . .

Do you ever hear something so absurd you have to say to yourself . . . that simply can't be true? Or at the very least say to yourself . . . is that true?

Now, here's the big question. Do you ever take that next step and find out? I'll admit I often don't. Most of all because it doesn't affect me or I just don't have an interest in it.

But if I do have an interest and/or I do plan to go out and repeat it, wouldn't it be prudent to be sure it's fact and not fiction?

I mean those real facts. The ones that are proven to be true.

I find buzz words like limited government intriguing. Does it ever strike you that we seem to demand and reject government action - simultaneously!

No more stimulus money . . . but, but do fix our roads. Reduce my taxes . . . but, but don't touch Medicare. Basically, could you just fix it all, get out of the way, regulate sometimes, don't spend any more money . . . and do it all at the same time?

In theory, it sounds good. In reality, not so much. I mean "limited government".

Like regulation of business. There's too much regulation, not enough free market! But make sure those CEO's don't get another bonus. And can you do that by not regulating, please.

When I hear the term limited government, I'm reminded of something I heard recently . . .

Is it possible that the new definition of limited government is "government limited to the people we agree with"?

Naive optimism. Catering to the public's ignorance.

It would be funny. If it weren't true.

Kasteel and aardbeien

Yesterday was really nice so we took a little drive to check out a castle only a half hour from us. We thought it might be a good place to take our company while they are here.

Along the way we saw lots of these tent-like structures so we stopped and looked inside. They are strawberries.

We've bought Belgisch strawberries several times at our local grocery store and although they're a bit expensive they are really good. Jim's comment on the first ones we bought was "These taste just like I remember strawberries tasting like when I was a kid". It's true. They are really good. So we've splurged and bought a few more.

As we were driving along, we saw a trailer loaded with crates of strawberries and wondered where it was going. We've never seen a roadside fruit stand. Anywhere. Until today!

Naturally we stopped and bought some. That's says "STRAWBERRIES FOR SALE". They weren't any less expensive, but they were really good.

And we ate every one of them before we got home.

Back to the castle. The grounds are really pretty. We decided this looks just like pink snow.

We took only this one picture of the very back of the castle so not to spoil showing our company the front view. It seems someone came for lunch in a helicopter. We never saw anyone get in or out of it so if we had a "brush with greatness", we didn't even know it.

I'm cookin' now

Our neighbor gave me a cookbook. A Belgian cookbook. With "101 ideeen uit de traditionele Belgische keuken". No excuses now, right?

I've chosen vleesbrood. Meatloaf. How hard can that be?

With kriekensoep. Cherry soup. Hmmm. Well, at least this should mask any potential failure with the vleesbrood.

I've spent an inordinate amount of time translating, and according to Google Translate, I will need the following:

300 grams of varkens-rundgehakt (minced pork-beef)

Pork-beef?

Three hundred grams. I kinda think of grams in terms of grains - like grains of sand.

It's not.

Three hundred grams is actually more like 10 oz.

And, pork and beef are two different things - even in Belgium, aren't they?

300 g mager rundgehakt (lean minced beef)

More beef?

1 blik gepelde tomaten (1 can peeled tomatoes)

Just the one blik.

BTW, canned cokes also come in bliks.

1 omega 3 ei (ei = egg)

An omega 3 egg.

Really? Apparently those extra fatty acids from flax seed-eating hens makes all the difference in meatloaf.

Who knew?

1/2 tl nootmuskaatpoeder (1/2 tsp. nutmeg)

Noot-muskaat-poeder.

Does this kinda sounds a bit like a vermin toxin?

According to Jim, it is. He really hates nutmeg.

1 mespuntje cayennepeper (1 pinch of cayenne)

Just a mespuntje.

2 sjalotjes, gehakt (2 shallots, minced)

Gehakt - a good word to know.

1/2 bosje platte peterselie, fijngehakt (1/2 bunch parsley, finely gehakt)

1 tl olijfolie, om te terrine in te vetten (1 tsp. olive oil to grease the pan).

That "tl" is an abbreviation for theelepel = teaspoon.

Thee = tea and lepel = spoon.

And a pan to grease. I'm gonna need this.

peper en zout

Yeah, that's just what it looks like.

The kriekensoep (aka mask for potentially failed vleesbrood):

250 g noordkrieken op sap (cherries in juice)

I must assume these come in something other than a blik.

1 el honing (1 Tbsp. honey)

The "el" is an abbreviation for eetlepel = tablespoon.

Eet = eat and lepel = spoon (still)

6 zwarte peperkorrels (6 black peppercorns)

Only ZES. Specifically.

1 stokje kaneel (1 cinnamon stick)

1 el 4 kruiden (1 Tbsp. 4 herbs)

This is where I could use more specifics. I don't know these "4" herbs.

5 cl wijnazijn (5 ?? wine vinegar)

I'm gonna need a cl measurer. I assume this is centiliter and best I can tell from the internet - this is about 1 oz.

Voila! To the markt (ja, dat is how markt is spelld).

Now all I need to do is translate what to do with all this stuff :-|

Change is difficult

I was born and grew up in Jonesboro, Louisiana. My Daddy worked at the paper mill in Hodge and my mother taught music in the public schools. I guess I assumed we'd always live in Jonesboro and I suspect they did too.

When I was in the 3rd grade, the schools were integrated. You know, when black students were integrated into white schools and vice versa. Although it probably had nothing to do with race, the school system had it's share of problems and my parents decided to send me to school in Ruston.

So I began my freshman year of high school at Cedar Creek. Within the next two years I convinced my parents, who had lived most of their lives in Jonesboro, to move to Ruston. We found a nice home and that's what we did. We moved to Ruston. They lived in that same house for the rest of their lives.

Jim lived almost his entire life in Ruston. And as noted above, I lived most of mine there too. His parents built a house in the mid-60's and that's where he always lived. That's where his parents still live today. I guess we also thought we'd always live in Ruston. We never anticipated moving anywhere else. We were perfectly content to stay right there.

We didn't know anything else.

In 1995, everything changed. After 15 years of marriage and two children, we moved. It almost killed us all. We were excited and anxious and sad all at the same time.

We moved several times after that and it was never easy, but never as difficult as that time we left Ruston.

After a few years of moving here and there, we ended up back in Ruston. Ironically, at first I wasn't all that excited about returning. I sort of felt like we'd moved on. It turned out to be perfect timing for a lot of reasons. One, both our children were able to attend and graduate from Louisiana Tech.

When we left Ruston again, it was almost as difficult, in a different sort of way, because our children didn't go with us.

Now, here we are in Belgium. Who would have thought we'd end up here? Not me for sure. I never even thought I'd visit Europe much less live here. Which as it turns out were one and the same!

When I think about it too much, it makes me feel anxious. I have no doubt we are where we should be because in all these years, I can confidently say . . .

we have no regrets.

The closing on our home in Ruston this week sort of finalized it for me. There is a good chance we will never live in Ruston again. There is a good chance our children will never live in Ruston again. We have all moved on. I still miss it sometimes, but I can confidently say . . .

we have no regrets . . .

but change is difficult.

You won't find this in the States

You've all heard that Americans are banned from traveling to Cuba, right?

Ever heard the term "Cuban trade embargo"? Well, in the early 60's, the U.S. established a trade embargo against Cuba basically to sanction Fidel Castro's communist regime.

And you've all heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis, right? Well, that was more or less when Castro allowed the Soviets to construct missiles that could possibly strike the U.S. So, again, the U.S. responded by preventing Soviet ships from delivering materials to Cuba.

Apparently as long as Castro lives and Cuba remains communist, the trade embargo will probably remain in effect. In fact, in 2004, it was made even more restrictive when the Bush Administration made it not only illegal to bring Cuban cigars to the States, an American cannot legally buy or smoke a Cuban cigar in countries where they are legal.

Like here in Belgium.

No problem. We don't smoke Cuban cigars.

And the same goes for Cuban rum. So despite it being sold at the grocery store across the street, we don't drink Cuban rum either. That we know of.

Although I'm not sure we need to worry.

Here's a picture of former TX representative Tom Delay enjoying a Cuban cigar - while in office - and nothing happened.

Over this incident, that is.

His name may ring a bell though . . . along with things like - money laundering - Jack Abramoff - indictment - Coalition for a Conservative Majority.

But I digress . . .

So, back to Cuba . . . Americans aren't technically banned from traveling to Cuba, we just can't spend money there. So technically, we are banned from traveling to Cuba. And furthermore, if you're caught illegally visiting Cuba, you may get slapped with a hefty fine of $7,500.

That's a pretty decent deterrent.

Besides the fact that it's illegal.

So, as I understand it, this embargo, that's lasted almost my entire life, began as a sanction against a communist regime.

I'm not sure where "Made in China" and melamine fits into all this, but I am certainly glad we are protected from the possibility of smoking Cuban cigars or drinking Havana rum.

That's for sure.

Native Tongue

With my newfound interest in all things language, sort of, I did a little googling and as you might have guessed, the most common languages are not exactly what . . . you might have guessed.

This map shows the major languages spoken worldwide. That's a heleboel of green. Sorta makes you think Russian might be the other language you should learn.

But this next graph clears that all up.

Of course, everybody knows which language is spoken by the most people.

Chinese. Of course.

That's the not-so-big pink spot on that map up there.

It still amazes me that well over 1/3 of all the people in the world live in that pink spot up there and that small orange spot underneath it. That is 1 of every 3 people on earth!

China and India.

The numbers on the graph have increased a little, but the percentages are pretty much the same. If Chinese weren't complicated enough - it even has 12 dialects!

"That's a heleboel of dialects."

and in Chinese: 这是一个很大的方言。

I would probably need to stop with "a" and "an". a= 一 and an= 个

Both English and Spanish speakers are right at 330,000,000 now. At 330 million, that's still about 4 Chinese speakers for every English speaker. Which further reminds me how fortunate we are that Belgian schools teach English and not Chinese!

I took 2 years of Spanish in high school and another 2 quarters at LaTech so I know a little Spanish. Particularly essential Spanish phrases like:

"I'd like a margarita on the rocks with salt."

"Me gustaría una margarita en las rocas de sal."

The next ones on the Top Ten list of most-spoken languages surprised me. Arabic - which actually has more like 220,000,000 now and not unlike Chinese, has 16 different dialects depending on which country you live in - i.e. Egypt or Iraq or . . .

This is "Hello, how are you?" in Arabic. Way over here on the right.

مرحبا ، كيف حالك؟

Yeah, and it's written right to left.

And we thought Dutch was a challenge.

Numbers 5, 6, and 7 of the Top Ten are Hindi, Portuguese, and Bengali.

Hindi is spoken in India.

Bengali in Bangladesh.

I have got to get out more. I don't even know where most of these places are.

I suppose I did know Portuguese is spoken in Portugal since they both begin with Portug, but until I got to Europe, I never even thought about where Portugal was on the map.

(BTW - it's right next to Spain :)

I definitely could have used a few more geography lessons. Why don't they teach more geography in school? Or was it just my school?

Oh, and I have this idea about that - teaching geography - another day - another post.

This is "I'm fine, and you?" in Hindi.

मैं ठीक हूँ, और तुम?

At least it's written from left to right. That's something.

And "How do you say . . . in Portuguese?" in Portuguese.

"Como se diz . . . em Português?"

Now, that's a language I could possibly learn. An accent mark and little rooftop here and there, but at least it's all A B C's.

I have no idea how to say "Hello" or anything else in Bengali . . . it may be one of the Top Ten most spoken languages, but it is not on Goggle Translate.

So rounding out the Top 10 are Russian, Japanese, and German. Although German is taught to students in Belgium, just as English and French are, we don't hear much of it spoken. We have noticed that the majority of Germans we've encountered don't typically know English as all Belgians do.

Thankfully, I have heard of Russian, Japanese, and German and I actually do know where these countries are. As a matter of fact, Germany is only a half hour from our house, as the crow flies.

"I would be lost without Google Translate" in Russian. No, I would be lost without Google Translate, period.

Я хотел бы быть потеряны без.

I guess, like Hindi, the only thing I can say about this is that at least it's written from left to right.

This says "Dutch is looking easier and easier" in Japanese.

オランダ人は楽に探しています。

And it's true. Dutch is looking easier and easier.

While it may be a heleboel easier than Russian, "I think I'm glad I don't need to learn German!" in German.

"Ich glaube, ich bin froh, dass ich nicht brauchen, Deutsch zu lernen."

While Dutch is the official language of the northern half of Belgium, French is the official language of the southern half of Belgium. Long, long . . . long story. Another day - another post.

French is 16th on this list of a gazillion languages. Dutch is down at #42, right between Indonesian and Sindhi.

Sindhi? Yeah, that's one of the languages spoken in Pakistan. I guess considering there are . . . well, take a look at this . . .

according to the website of one language expert, Ethnologue . . .

Ethnologue language name index

Listing of 7413 primary names only.

For 41,186 alternate names and dialect names use the search site.

Yep, you can search their database of over 7,000 primary languages and 41,000 alternate names and dialects.

Dutch being at #42 doesn't seem so "way down on the list" any more.

I've read that the Chinese language has as many as 15 million "words", but I've also read that you can get along by only knowing about 1,000 characters. That's still a heleboel of characters.

There are about 500,000 words in the English language. You can double that if you include scientific terms.

By comparison . . .

French has about 50,000 for an approximate 10:1 ratio to English. Ten English words for every French word?

That's not so surprising when you consider there's one English word that has 380 synonyms. Can you guess what it is?

Think about it.

I'll tell you. In a second.

Spanish and Dutch have around 250,000 for a 2:1 ratio to English.

So, any way you look at it . . .

dat is een heleboel woorden and een groot aantal andere talen!

(that's a lot of words and a lot of languages!)

So, thanks for stopping by and . . .

Good day!

or

Fine day!

or

Pleasant day!

or

Splendid day!

or

Stupendous . . .